‘Perilous’: Scott Morrison issues grim warning

With Beijing’s warships conducting live-fire drills in international waters off the Australian coast, former PM Scott Morrison has described the threat posed by China as “serious.”

China wants to dominate the Indo-Pacific and will “bend the rules” of economics, trade and sovereign borders to do so, former prime minister Scott Morrison has warned.

With Beijing’s warships conducting live-fire drills in international waters off the Australian coast, Mr Morrison has described the threat posed by China as “serious,” adding Australia’s nuclear powered AUKUS submarines “can’t come fast enough”.

“I don’t think like the Soviets, they (China) want to take over the whole world, they just want to control their part of it absolutely,” he told Sky News.

“And where they define their part of the world, well those borders go well beyond their national ones, and that has implications for how the rest of the world operates.”

China wants to dominate the Indo-Pacific and will “bend the rules” of economics, trade and sovereign borders to do so, former prime minister Scott Morrison has warned. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

Mr Morrison said the Chinese government had sought to use influence “in all spheres” to achieve its goals.

“What that means is bending the rules of the world order to suit what they would prefer to see happen,” he said.

Mr Morrison said he did “not necessarily” agree that China had an appetite for conflict.

“I think they would prefer if the rest of the world just got out of the way and let them have what they want,” he said.

Mr Morrison said Beijing’s approach was to offer riches through trade and other economic advantages, in return for getting their way.

“Well, we said no, because what they wanted was unconscionable to the Australian national interest and in fact freedom in the Pacific, and sovereignty in the Pacific,” he said.

Mr Morrison said the global security situation was “perilous”.

The People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang sailing at an undisclosed location. Picture: Handout / AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE / AFP

“We still have an arc of autocracy that is pressing against the established world order, post the Cold War, and seeking to establish regional hegemony in their various corners of the world, whether that be Russia in Europe, Iran in the Middle East or indeed of course China in the Indo-Pacific, the most dominant of all of these and the one frankly with the most significant implications, not just for Australia, the Indo-Pacific, but the world as a whole,” he said.

Mr Morrison said the nature of the relationship between Australia and China was “not just a competition,” but a “strategic rivalry”.

“There is a very big difference in world views,” he said.

“The nature of the rivalry that we now have with an authoritarian regime in China ... bears many of the same characteristics as the Cold War.”

Originally published as ‘Perilous’: Scott Morrison issues grim warning